£40m inland surf park planned for London's Lee Valley

By Tom Walker 03 Dec 2018

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) and inland surfing company The Wave have unveiled plans to create an inland surfing venue in London.

To be located at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton, North London, the £40m venue will be developed jointly by the two partners and will allow people of all ages and abilities to have a go at surfing.

At the heart of the project will be a surfing lake powered by Wavegarden Cove technology, which creates up to 1,000 waves per hour.

The project is at an early stage and a programme of consultation with local communities and interested organisations is set to take place in the new year – alongside comprehensive site analysis.

A planning application will then be submitted following the analysis.

In a statement, a spokesperson for The Wave said: "We are extremely excited to announce that we are partnering with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority to develop a planning application for a world-class surfing destination in London.

"The Wave London, would reinvigorate land adjacent to the Lee Valley Athletics Centre and encourage more people to get outside in nature and get active."

The Wave is currently developing a similar venue in Bristol, which is set to open by the end of 2019.

"We are now full steam ahead building The Wave Bristol and can’t wait to open our doors there next autumn," the spokesperson said, adding that the company would develop the London park In parallel to the Bristol works.

Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, added: “The Wave London would complement our existing world-class sports venues up and down the 26-mile-long Regional Park, including our three hugely popular London 2012 legacy venues providing the best cycling, white water, hockey and tennis opportunities to be found anywhere.

“Lee Valley Leisure Complex was once a sewage works and rubbish dumps.

"A generation ago we built what was then Europe’s largest leisure centre. Now we hope to bring inland surfing here to create an outstanding new leisure destination for the capital and the region. This marks another exciting chapter in the history of the Lee Valley.”

London is to become the first capital city in the world to have an inland surfing centre